Schmidtchens Alte Liebe

Schmidtchens Alte Liebe is a 150-person live-music bar in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district, inside Klubhaus St. Pauli. Its calling card is a compact, dance-ready room dressed in 1920s cues: brick walls, ceiling plasterwork, sofas, gilt chandeliers and an iron pavilion, all beneath the complex’s huge media facade. Music, drinks and conversation share the same close quarters, giving shows the feel of a bar night with a band at its core.

Born with the Klubhaus

Alte Liebe emerged during the 2015 opening of Klubhaus St. Pauli, a newly built 5,000-square-metre Reeperbahn complex designed for live music, entertainment, nightlife and offices. The development brought several venues under one roof, including Alte Liebe and the small Schmidtchen theatre. Schmidtchen opened on 6 June 2015, launched by theatre leaders Corny Littmann and Norbert Aust as the newest stage in the Schmidt family; its attached-bar model placed Alte Liebe directly in the flow of pre-show and post-show crowds. Alte Liebe itself opened in September 2015 as the Schmidt Theater’s partner bar. The venue’s story therefore begins with a specific local conversion of scale: a fresh multi-venue building, a theatre next door and a ground-floor bar shaped for live acts. The German Music Information Centre records the club’s 2015 opening and lists Axel Strehlitz as managing director.

The room after dark

The programming runs on recurring live bands, with a pop- and folk-leaning mix of singers, acoustic sets, familiar-song repertory and dance-friendly late slots. Artist enquiries go through the venue’s dedicated live-music email channel; table and area reservations sit alongside private-event hire. Expect bar-first viewing instead of a formal concert hall: sofas and the iron pavilion create pockets for a drink, while the open floor supports dancing close to the performers. It suits a casual show where cocktails and movement form part of the evening.